State is in its worst one-year drought ever

Lack of rain made all the worse by searing temperatures.

By Colin McDonald :
August 5, 2011

Amanda Herrera drinks from her water bottle during a break at the South San High School Marching Band practice in the school's parking lot, Thursday, August 4, 2011.

Photo By BOB OWEN/Bob Owen/rowen@express-news.net

Brandon Ramirez, a trumpet player in the South San High School Marching Band takes the hot sun during a practice in the school's parking lot, Thursday, August 4, 2011. Lisa Wilburn, Band Director at Shepard Middle School, walks by using an umbrella to create her own shade.

Photo By BOB OWEN/Bob Owen/rowen@express-news.net

Julie Martinez, right, Keith Arroyo, center, and Sabrina Garcia, left, use their notebooks to shade their faces during the South San High School Marching Band practice in the school's parking lot, Thursday, August 4, 2011.

Photo By ANDREW BUCKLEY/ANDREW BUCKLEY/abuckley@express-news.net

A view of Canyon Lake with low water levels on July 22, 2011.

Photo By ANDREW BUCKLEY/ANDREW BUCKLEY/abuckley@express-news.net

Part of a fish is pictured on a portion of Wilbur George's property on the north side of Canyon Lake that has been uncovered by drought conditions on July 22, 2011.

Photo By ANDREW BUCKLEY/ANDREW BUCKLEY/abuckley@express-news.net

Rocks that have been uncovered by drought conditions are pictured on Wilbur George's property on the north side of Canyon Lake on July 22, 2011.

Photo By ANDREW BUCKLEY/ANDREW BUCKLEY/abuckley@express-news.net

Wilbur George stands in an area that would normally be covered with water at his property on the north side of Canyon Lake on July 22, 2011.

Photo By ANDREW BUCKLEY/ANDREW BUCKLEY/abuckley@express-news.net

Wilbur George talks about his experiences living in the Canyon Lake area at his home July 22, 2011.

Photo By ANDREW BUCKLEY/ANDREW BUCKLEY/abuckley@express-news.net

Wilbur George talk about his experiences living in the Canyon Lake area at his home July 22, 2011.

Summer in Texas always is hot. No news there. But never before has the state been so dry over a one-year period.

With just 0.72 inches of rain statewide, July ranks as the third-driest on record and the fifth-consecutive month that ranked among the 10 driest in history, according to the Texas climatologist.

From last August through July, the state received 15.16 inches of rain, beating the previous record low of 16.46 inches set in 1925.

“These statistics rank the current drought as the most severe one-year drought ever for Texas,” climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon said.

It’s not yet a match for the state’s worst extended drought, which occurred during the 1950s. San Antonio is seeing a repeat of conditions during summer 2009, Nielsen-Gammon said.

“The biggest difference is that most of 2010 was very wet,” he said.

That left San Antonio with a full aquifer and reservoirs, which has given the region more water than it had in summer 2009. Then, Canyon Lake dropped more than 17 feet. This year, the lake has dropped seven feet — so far.

According to the National Weather Service, San Antonio just had the third-hottest July. In contrast, July 2009 was the hottest July and the hottest month ever. This month already is a scorcher, with every day over 100. Thursday’s high of 103 tied the record. So far this summer, the temperature has reached 100 or more on 27 days.

June and July were the state’s warmest on record.

The damage to Texas agriculture from the drought is estimated to be approaching $2 billion, according to the Texas Department of Agriculture.

As temperatures strained power supplies Thursday afternoon, the operator of the state’s electric grid pulled power from neighboring grids and cut power to some large users, but residential customers were spared rolling blackouts.

At one point, grid operator ERCOT — the Electric Reliability Council of Texas — warned of a “high probability” of rolling blackouts, but it was canceled.

Only industrial users that agreed previously to shut down equipment in an emergency had their power cut. That relieved about 1,000 megawatts of demand.

Thursday’s statewide peak use was 66,848 megawatts, lower than the record of 68,294 megawatts set Wednesday.

Robledo said CPS has saved about 90 megawatts a day during the heat wave through two programs. Commercial customers voluntarily cut use by turning off non-essential lighting and air-conditioning. The other program, the Peak Saver programmable thermostat, allows CPS to cycle off customers’ air conditioner compressors for 10 to 15 minutes at a time when demand is high.

If the scorching weather should prompt ERCOT to call for wider rolling blackouts in the coming days, CPS and other utilities would be required to comply — and within 15 minutes, CPS spokeswoman Christine Patmon said.

CPS wouldn’t cut power to critical customers, such as hospitals, she said. CPS has decided that those who lost power Feb. 2, when electrical use soared in freezing weather, “would be the last people affected again. We would start with other customers not affected on Feb. 2,” Patmon said.

The record heat has triggered calls for conservation this week, especially between 3 and 7 p.m.

CPS suggests turning off appliances and lights and turning up the thermostat to cut air conditioning use. Every degree the thermostat is set below 78 adds 7 to 10 percent to a person’s electric bill as well as additional stress to the grid.

Many small appliances, such as coffee makers, alarm clocks and cable boxes, use power even when not in use.

“A home using two cable boxes is using significantly more electricity than it takes to run a new refrigerator” every year, said Joseph Hubbard, spokesman for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.